The What, How and Why of the Re-birth -John 3:1-21

John 3:1-21

Have you ever had some concept in your life that you just could not seem to grasp? I have. When I was in school I was a pretty good student in all my classes except math. In math I was dumb with a capital “umb”. When it came time to learn subtraction I just couldn’t get it. I think part of the problem was the examples they used in trying to teach me. You see they would always say something like this: “If you have 5 apples and Johnny takes 2 of the apples, how many apples do you have left?” My answer would always be the same: “I still have 5 apples because all Johnny is going to get is a black eye if he thinks he can take my food.” They always seemed to use food to teach me subtraction, They never tried anything else. My teachers tried, my parents tried and my older brother tied, but to no avail. Finally for some reason, one day in the second grade, it all clicked and I could subtract. What we will see today is Jesus using several different ways to teach a man about something he just did not grasp; being born again. We will see the what, how and why of the rebirth.

This morning we will be looking at a John 3:1-21. We will also be looking at Ezekiel 36 and 37, Numbers 21 and Daniel 7 so if you would like to go ahead and go to those places and hold them for later reference that would be great. I know that we are looking at a large swath of Scripture so let’s go ahead and pray so we can get into the Word of God. Let’s pray.

Let’s go ahead and read the entirety of our passage John 3:1-21 3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”[1]

In verse 2 of this chapter Nicodemus came to Jesus and admitted that he believed He came from God as a teacher of Israel because no one could do the signs that Jesus did unless He came from God at that point Jesus began to teach Nicodemus what it meant to recognize and enter the kingdom heaven. Jesus told him he had to have something happen to him before he could see the kingdom of heaven and that something was to be born again, or regeneration. When Jesus said that Nicodemus asked the same thing almost everyone you share the gospel with asks: What am I supposed to do? That is the question they asked Peter at Pentecost. In Nicodemus’ case it was; “Do I crawl back into my mother’s womb.” Others ask; “Do I have to start going to church?” “Do I say a special prayer?” “Do I have to stop…? You fill in the blank there. When Nicodemus asked that I believe Jesus took him back to the prophet Ezekiel chapter 36:24-27 24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. [2]He told him he had to be made clean and made alive, he had to have a new heart and new spirit, to be a new creation to quote the Apostle Paul. Unless one is born of the water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Then in verse 8 of our text this morning Jesus took Nicodemus to the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. Most of you remember the passage from Ezekiel if not you surely remember: “Dem bones dem bones dem dry bone, hear the word of the Lord. The foot bones connected to the ankle bone…” Let me read some of that to you. Ezekiel 37:1-2 The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.[3]Ezekiel is describing not simply dead but so dead there is not even any morrow in the bones they are so dry they are almost powder. Of course that is much the way Paul describes the unregenerate man: Ephesians 2:1, 5 1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,..5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),[4] The natural state of mankind is spiritually dead just like the dry bones in Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel 37:4-6 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”[5]A few verses later God tells Ezekiel to prophecy to the bones and the bones took on flesh then He told Ezekiel to prophecy to the wind and tell the wind or breath (same word) to enter into those who have been remade and bring them to life. This is exactly what Jesus was talking about in verse 8 of John 3 when Jesus said: 8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” You cannot see the wind but you can see the effect of the wind on the trees and the grass, you cannot see the Holy Spirit but you can see the effect on the man or woman or boy or girl in which it blows across and into bringing about the new birth because their lives are changed. That is the what of being born again.

The over arching truth found in verses 1-8 is that re-birth (being born again) is a work of God through the Holy Spirit bringing life to those who are dead in their sin and their trespasses. But to this truth we see that Nicodemus says: “Huh” actually he says; How can these things be? Nicodemus still doesn’t get it just like I didn’t get algebra when I was in High School. To that Jesus admonishes Nicodemus: 10Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man £who is in heaven. Nicodemus had admitted and believed that Jesus was a teacher sent by God so why did he not understand what had been prophesied in the Old Testament? It would be possible to miss it in the first place but after Jesus explained it using the Old Testament (Ezekiel 36-37) he had no earthly excuse. But there was a heavenly reason, the Spirit had not moved in his life so that he could grasp the things of heaven. Jesus explained it as best as earthly possible and he did not understand so there was no way he would understand the heavenly message. So Jesus told this teacher of the Law just exactly Who He was, again using the Prophets. Daniel 7:13-14 13“I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. 14Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.[6]

Jesus is teaching Nicodemus about the kingdom of heaven and identifies himself as the Son of Man who would be the Lord over the kingdom that contained some of all peoples, nations and languages, the kingdom that would never end, never be destroyed and He was the Son of Man who had everlasting dominion over this kingdom that was given to Him by the Ancient of Days. Surely Nicodemus needed to hear nothing more to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of Man who rules over His kingdom. Jesus has used the description of rebirth, cleansing and being made new as described in Ezekiel. And He has described Himself as the Son of Man from Daniel who would rule over those in His kingdom who have been reborn. Just like my first and second grade teachers and my parents continued to try to explain to me the depth of subtraction Jesus continues trying to explain the necessity of rebirth to understand and enter into the kingdom, what more could He possibly do? So this time Jesus changes from the teachings of the prophets to the Law of Moses.

Let’s look at Numbers 21:5-9 5And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.[7]

There are many things we can talk about here but I want to point out two things. First: When one was bit by one of these serpents that God sent it was going to lead to death. God provided only one means by which one could be delivered from certain death and that was to place their trust in God demonstrated by looking to the Brazen Serpent God had commanded to be put up on a pole. There was no alternative for salvation. Second: The thing that is not mentioned in this passage is the obvious. When people looked at the serpent they lived but what of those who did not place their gaze on the only remedy? The way it is stated it leaves us the opportunity to see that there were those who upon the command of God refused obedience to Him and those most certainly died. When given the choice between death and life they chose death. The serpent was lifted up for all to see and all to look on with faith yet some refused and died. So when Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:14-16 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in Him should £not perish but have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. He was telling Nicodemus: I am the only way to enter into the kingdom of heaven. When I am exalted, lifted up, those who look to Me, who put their entire trust in Me will have eternal life. That is great but we have to remember the flip side; those who do not put their entire trust in Him will not see the kingdom of heaven, will not enter the kingdom of heaven and will perish. We don’t have time to go into this in depth but perish doesn’t mean cease to exist it means that one will experience only the wrath of God not His mercy and grace. The word “believe” does not simply mean to agree with or understand something to be true or correct. It means to lay you life on it, to be so convinced that you cannot be dissuaded, you understand it to be you very life, as Paul said in Acts 17; in Him we live and move and have our being. There is much more to see in John 3:16 but what I would like for us to gleen this morning is that God provided the means by which one can be clean and made new by sending His one and only Son so that those who believe will have everlasting life.

We have seen so far that there is a means by which one may recognize and enter into the kingdom of heaven; he must be born again. This is something that happens to him. He is washed clean and made new (Ezekiel 36 and 37). The means God provided by which one is born again is faith in the Son of Man being lifted up. Those who look upon Him and believe, give themselves fully to Him will have everlasting life. The only means by which one is born again is faith in the Son of God, Son of Man, Jesus the Christ. All who believe have eternal life all who refuse will perish. That is the how of being born again. We have seen thus far the “what” and the “how” of being born again to enter into the kingdom of heaven but why is this rebirth necessary?

Let’s read John 3:17-21 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” I can remember when I was a child and was so proud of myself for not only memorizing John 3:16 but also memorizing verse 17. However I had no concept as to its meaning and I will admit I didn’t understand it until I was an adult and really began to study the Word of God. Why did God not send His Son into the world to condemn the world? Surely He is holy and righteous and since He is the Son of God He will condemn all those workers of iniquity! There is no need for the Son of God to come into the world to condemn mankind because mankind in his nature is condemned already because he or she is evil. Those who believe in Him are not condemned because as we just said they have been born again, cleansed from their nature of rebellion against God and made a new creation, having put their lives, their entire being into the One who was exalted, lifted up, the Son of Man, Jesus the Christ. But all those who have not placed their lives into the hands of the One who is exalted are condemned. The reason mankind is condemned and refuses to look to Christ for salvation is because (don’t miss this) they are evil. When you are sharing the Gospel with someone and you come to the part where you talk about the fact that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God most people will agree with you. I’ve sinned, you’ve sinned, we have all sinned and when you put it that way it doesn’t sound all that bad, especially to a lost person who doesn’t have a concept of Who the sin is against. But if you were to change your declaration to: “You are evil and the intent of your heart is evil”, people are going to get mad at you and tell you that they are not evil they just make mistakes. They will defend themselves with things like; “I’m not evil, Hitler was evil, Charles Manson is evil, the rapist, the drug dealer, the murderer is evil, I’m not evil.” People always balk at the statement that they are evil. The truth of the matter is though that outside of the work of Christ mankind is evil. You may be asking yourself; “Where did the preacher get that? I don’t agree, I wasn’t evil before I came to Christ or I’m not evil.” Then I challenge you to go back and read Romans 1 and if that doesn’t convince you then read Romans 3 and if you need something outside of Scripture (I don’t understand why you would but if you do) go watch the news on tv or read the newspaper, then try to argue your point. Those who have come to Christ are no longer evil they are in fact righteous having been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, they come to the light (2 Cor. 5:21) but by nature everyone else is evil. And if you are born again there is nothing for you to be proud about because it was done to you by a work of God. Light has come into the world and the unregenerate man or woman, boy or girl will not come to the light because they love the darkness rather than the light and they love the darkness because they know the light will reveal their evil nature. That is why one must be born again. That is why one must be born of the water, cleansed, and the Spirit, made new. Their nature is evil and evil cannot be made good. It cannot be cleaned up and dusted off and proclaimed “good enough”, it must be removed and replaced with a new nature, born again, as John said in John 1:13 born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Those who are born again come to the light because they know their deeds are done not by them in their old evil nature but through God in their new nature. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The “what” of re-birth is that it is a work of God through the Holy Spirit bringing life to those who are dead in their sin and their trespasses. How the Holy Spirit brings about the re-birth is through is through faith in the Son of Man being lifted up. Those who look upon Him and believe, give themselves fully to Him will have everlasting life. And the “why” of re-birth is that Light has come into the world and the unregenerate man or woman, boy or girl will not come to the light because they love the darkness rather than the light and they love the darkness because they know the light will reveal their evil nature.

If we do not understand this rebirth, regeneration, then we cannot understand the purpose and mission of Jesus on the cross and we cannot understand our mission as believers to be witnesses and discipling disciples. If we do not understand that we are a new creation made righteous in Christ rather than a cleaned up wretch then we will never see the work of God in our lives as a miracle rivaling the creation of the world and we will be like many who claim to be born again but are in constant fear that they will lose something that they themselves wrought in their lives, their own salvation. Regeneration is a work of God, so I admonish you today; glory in God’s work. Let’s pray.

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Jn 3:1–21). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [2] The New King James Version. (1982). (Eze 36:24–27). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [3] The New King James Version. (1982). (Eze 37:1–2). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [4] The New King James Version. (1982). (Eph 2:5). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [5] The New King James Version. (1982). (Eze 37:4–6). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [6] The New King James Version. (1982). (Da 7:13–14). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [7] The New King James Version. (1982). (Nu 21:5–9). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.